1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to document joggers, and more particularly to a document jogger having an adjustable bin.
2. Discussion
In commerce, documents of various sizes and grades are generated as a result of transactions. For example, in the financial services industry thousands of checks clear on a daily basis. These checks are processed so that the appropriate funds can be transmitted from one institution to another. In performing this task, various types of processing equipment are used. In order to be reliably operated on by the processing equipment, documents such as checks when fed into the processing equipment must be aligned along their leading and bottom edges. One way of doing this is to use a document jogger. A document jogger has the function of aligning documents along their leading and bottom edges by vigorously vibrating the documents, which are stacked in a bin, so that their inter document friction lock is broken and the documents fall into alignment.
Referring to FIG. 1, a document jogger known in the art is illustrated. The document jogger 10 has a base 12. The base 12 supports a housing 14 that is suspended from the base 12 by springs. The housing 14 has a column 13 that is mounted to a deck 16. The deck 16 has mounted to it a wall 17 which forms a vee at its juncture with a bottom wall or base 21 of the deck 16. The deck 16 also has mounted to it a plurality of fixed walls 24 that, in conjunction with wall 17 and base 21, define bins 18. The bins 18 are adapted to hold a stack of documents 22 of various sizes and grades that are sufficient in number to be held in the adult human hand. The jogger 10 can have a plurality of bins 18 depending upon the jogging time and number of documents being processed. Although it is known in the art to have as many as twelve bins employed, it is most common to have four bins for use with, for example, check processing equipment.
In operation, the jogger 10 is controlled by a control mechanism 11 which when actuated powers an electromagnet that is rigidly fastened to the base 12. The electromagnet excites the housing 14 with an alternating magnetic field causing the housing 14 to vibrate on its spring suspension vertically. The deck 16, which is rigidly mounted to the housing 14 by way of the column 13, vibrates with the housing 14. The amplitude of the vibration is approximately 0.05 inch peak-to-peak, and its frequency is usually 60 hertz. To facilitate alignment along the leading and bottom edges of the documents 22, the deck 16 is mounted at an angle in relation to the column 13 such that in operation, vertical vibration causes the documents 22 to settle into the vee formed at the juncture of the wall 17 and the base 21.
In operation, problems can occur at the end of a check processing run when, for example, a smaller than desirable batch of documents is placed into a bin 18. This happens more frequently, for example, at smaller community banks which receive their deposited checks periodically. When a batch of documents 22 does not completely fill the bin 18, it is known that the documents may fall onto their side during operation of the jogger, and may then fall through a debris slot 20 in the wall 17. It is also known that if the documents 22 do not fall through the debris slot 20, the documents 22 laying on their side cannot be properly jogged resulting in improper alignment and difficulties in processing. To prevent this, operators have supported smaller batches with their hands. In doing so, this prevents an operator from performing other tasks. Additionally, the operator may shorten the jogging time therein not allowing sufficient vibration to align the documents 22. Finally, it is known that the operator may apply too much pressure in holding the batch therein preventing proper jogging and alignment.
It is therefore desirable to provide a jogger with adjustable bin width that can alleviate the above-referenced problems.